Best Online Storage for Videos 2018

Almost every smartphone on the market supports 4K video. YouTube’s audience is always growing, making room for more and more creators, while Twitch has seen a surge in the popularity of game streaming.

It’s easier than ever to amass gigabytes upon gigabytes of video, which is why we put together a list of the best cloud storage for video.

Even if you do have enough local storage to keep it all, uploading your video collection to the cloud instead lets you access it from any device you own, easily share it with friends or collaborators and keep your data safe when your phone inevitably falls into a pool this summer.

What Makes a Cloud Storage Service Best for Videos?

If you have many videos, you’ll need to keep your eye on some specific features in your cloud storage provider. Videos take up massive amounts of space, so you’ll need a sizable amount of storage for a reasonable price. Sync.com stands out for its offering of 2TB at $8 per month, billed annually.

Sharing your videos is another important feature. It’s easy to grab a video with your friends by just taking out your phone, but if sharing is a pain they won’t be able to see it.

It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to send a link to someone and they shouldn’t need to create a new account for the service when they receive it. Thankfully, Google makes sharing easy and offers great collaboration using the Google account that most people, or at least Android users, already have.

As videos can be very sensitive for many users, security will be a top priority. Both MEGA and Sync.com are zero-knowledge providers, meaning no one can see your data unless you specifically share it. On top of that, MEGA offers an extra layer of security for anyone accessing files through a browser, with extensions that eliminate the need for loading JavaScript.

If you’re less worried about security, though, SugarSync may be a good investment for you, as it offers a wonderful user experience and excellent speeds. Livedrive is great if you need to backup a NAS with videos on it.

Sync.com

Sync.com is a highly secure service offering a lot of storage for a great price. Sync.com’s 2TB plan is only $8 per month. If you don’t need that much storage, or if you just want to try it out before committing, Sync.com also offers a 5GB free plan.

Sharing is also very straightforward. You can generate links with customizable security options, such as a password or an expiration date. Links can even be generated from directly within Apple’s finder or Windows file explorer, meaning that you will rarely need to open your browser to use Sync.com.

Other Reasons We Like Sync.com

It’s easy to use, very reliable, pretty fast and has great customer support to back it all up. Sync.com offers great apps for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. It integrates with your existing file manager and offers right-click menus that let you access functions other providers can only offer through the web app.

As you can read in our Sync.com review, it’s a solid, all-around cloud storage solution that works cleanly across your devices and is hard to beat, especially considering its price. It’s great for video storage and should be strongly considered for any other purpose, as well.

SugarSync

While more expensive and not quite as secure as Sync.com, SugarSync is still a very capable cloud storage solution for videos. SugarSync takes a unique approach to cloud storage: rather than give you a single sync folder as Google Drive or Sync.com do, it syncs any folder you choose.

This means that you don’t need to change your folder management system in order to backup your videos. You can simply set SugarSync to upload the folder you already use.

You can still manage files within your native file browser and SugarSync supports sharing through a right-click menu. SugarSync’s mobile app features a native video viewer too, making video consumption straightforward. Security is also strong, using TLS and AES 256-bit encryption.

Other Reasons We Like SugarSync

Though not specifically useful for videos, SugarSync supports file versioning up to five versions back and only counts the current one toward your data allotment. SugarSync also supports email uploading, a rare feature that’s great for occasions when someone sends you an email with a pile of attachments.

In fact, SugarSync is one of the most feature-rich services out there, as you can read in our SugarSync review. Though this may not be to everybody’s liking, people looking to make the most out of storage will likely love SugarSync.

MEGA

MEGA is a great option for those who put security first. It’s zero-knowledge protocols keep your files safe from snooping: even MEGA can’t see them and even if its servers are hacked, the hackers wouldn’t be unable to decrypt your files.

MEGA also gets points for convenience: if you have limited space on your mobile devices, watching videos can be difficult with a lot of providers. MEGA, however, offers video streaming on its mobile apps. This means your phone won’t need the local storage available for you to view your videos.

While sharing isn’t MEGA’s strongest point, it’s definitely still usable and secure. Compatibility is a step above most services though as MEGA offers integration with Windows Phone and Linux as well as the expected support for macOS, Windows, Android and iOS.

Other Reasons We Like MEGA

MEGA offers some great extra features that further increase its versatility. It has extensions for both Firefox and Chrome that make accessing your files through your browser quick and easy. MEGA has also developed MEGAbird, an extension for the Thunderbird email client.

Power users will also be excited to learn that MEGA can be controlled through a command-line client which allows powerful scripting for automating file management; for more details on this and more, check out our MEGA review.

Livedrive

Livedrive is another cloud storage provider with solid security and the ability to stream video using the mobile app or web app. This makes it great for videos, as you don’t need to have them stored locally in order to view them.

Sharing with Livedrive is solid, but you can’t set a password or expiration date for links. Livedrive also doesn’t have the best interface. It can be difficult to use at times (we have a few gripes concerning the service, all of which you can read about in our Livedrive review).

Livedrive’s main selling point, though, is that it can serve as both a syncing service and a backup service. The Pro Suite plan offers 5TB of syncing storage and unlimited backup. For an extra fee, you can also backup a NAS. This feature is perfect for the YouTuber or streamer looking to backup massive amounts of footage kept on external storage.

Other Reasons We Like Livedrive

Livedrive offers a lot of fine control over its syncing. This is great for anyone who wants deeper access to how Livedrive interacts with their home network. FTP, SFTP and WebDAV access make it a solid choice for developers.

However, less advanced users could easily be overwhelmed by its extra settings and confusing user interface. The best way to decide if Livedrive is a good fit for you is to check it out yourself: visit Livedrive and sign up for the 14-day trial to see what it’s all about.

Google Drive

While Google Drive falls behind our other selected services in terms of security and privacy (Google uses your data for advertising and has been connected to the NSA), it still has much to offer. Google Drive has official apps for macOS, Windows, Android and iOS. Linux users can also use Google Drive through the GNOME project integration.

The web app is fully featured too, so Internet browser file management is kept very smooth.

Beyond compatibility, Google features easy sharing and a good video viewer with the ability to add captions. Google Drive’s pricing is also affordable and flexible. The free option gives you a generous 15GB to work with. If you need more than that but don’t want to spring for a full terabyte, there’s a 100GB option at $1.99 per month.

Other Reasons We Like Google Drive

Google Drive’s office suite is great to use and collaboration is very straightforward. If you’re working with a team, you should strongly consider using it, as you can read in our Google Drive review.

Many developers have built integrations for Google Drive. It’s compatible with many popular services like Slack, IFTTT and Zapier and developers have built apps to expand Google Drive’s functionality within the web app.

Conclusion

For most people who need to work with large amounts of video data, Sync.com will provide the ideal feature set with great security and privacy, good pricing, a high storage ceiling and user friendliness. We recommend anyone go to Sync.com and check it out, the first 5GB is free.

Other users looking for specific features may benefit from our other top choices. SugarSync offers a unique approach to folder syncing for those who don’t want to change their existing file structure. MEGA is a highly secure solution with strong scripting support.

Video creators with huge vaults of video to handle will benefit from Livedrive’s NAS backup support. Anyone who needs to collaborate will appreciate Google Drive’s sharing functionality if they’re willing to compromise on privacy.

The good news is each of these services offer some level of free use so you can try them yourself before committing to a subscription. Which service catches your attention? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading.